McIlroy’s idol when he was growing up was Woods. But brand-wise, he aspires to be like another Nike endorser, the tennis superstar Roger Federer, who has become a symbol of grace and good taste. McIlroy said he discussed the business side of sports with Federer over dinner in December while in Brazil to watch his girlfriend, the tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. Before completing the deal with Omega, McIlroy spoke for 45 minutes with Federer, a 17-time major singles champion.

“He’s a role model, someone I can pattern myself after,” McIlroy said.

Roger wins his first round match at the 2013 French Open!!!!s Roger Federer walked on Philippe Chatrier Court to get his 2013 Roland Garros campaign under way, high in the stands a young fan brandished a hand-painted sign reading: “Allez Roger!” It was a kind gesture, but the instruction was a tad superfluous. The 17-time Grand Slam champion made very light work indeed of the world No.166 Pablo Carreno-Busta, whose reward for getting through the qualifying tournament was to come up against a Swiss brick wall in the first round proper. Carreno-Busta put in a creditable effort on his Grand Slam debut, but Federer still strolled to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Carreno-Busta was two breaks down within ten minutes, which is quite something when your first serve is at 62 per cent. His problem was reading anything Federer did with the ball. After a sizzling crosscourt backhand gave the Swiss 5-0, Carreno-Busta looked vaguely dazed at the changeover, and you couldn’t blame him. Some of us were consulting the record books for the last “triple bagel” in Grand Slam history (Sergi Bruguera over Thierry Champion, since you ask, right here at Roland Garros in the Spaniard’s victory year of 1993). But next game Carreno-Busta proved us all wrong with an ego-boosting break of serve, and then held. All right, so Federer served out the set from there, but at least outright embarrassment had been avoided.

Usually the 21-year-old Spaniard is to be found plying his trade on the ITF Futures circuit where he has experienced just one defeat in 39 matches this year. Drawing an all-time legend on his Grand Slam debut was always going to be the proverbial baptism of fire, and so it proved.

Perhaps Federer had an inkling this might not be the most testing afternoon of his career - in the build-up to the match, Twitter's latest recruit had asked his followers to decide what colour bandana he should wear. The democratically elected choice was violet – although to some of us it looked like plain old navy. But never mind.

The only moment of real intrigue came very early on in the match. At 3-0 with two breaks under his belt, Federer left the court, returning just a few seconds later adjusting his clothing. Way too early, and too quick, for a lavatory break. Most mysterious, unlike the match, which was all wrapped up in 80 minutes.

"I felt good," acknowledged Federer. "He's played many matches and won a lot this year - a lot on clay, by comparison with me. I knew it could be tricky if I didn't sustain a certain aggressiveness, get caught up in long rallies, maybe what he's looking for. I did well on the serve, on the return, on movement. Clearly I'm very pleased. Am I a favourite to win here? I don't care, because it doesn't give me any more opportunites to win the tournament. I just want to remain calm and let the storm go by."